Women in the Civil War

By Mrs. John A. Logan

The preparation of this brief introduction to the part of this
volume devoted to the women who dedicated their lives to the
arduous duties devolving upon the women at home, in the field,
and in the hospitals during the Civil War awakens vivid
recollections of experiences that time cannot efface.

Residing between the border states of Kentucky and Missouri and
in a community composed largely of southern born people, or
those whose ancestors were southerners, and whose sympathies
were strongly with their kindred south of Mason and Dixon's
line, the inevitable horrors of war were greatly enhanced.

Recollections of pathetic scenes sweep over me with all the
vividness of yesterday's events, the parting of sweethearts,
husbands and wives, parents and their soldier sons; the speedy
news which followed their departure of the misfortunes and
calamities of war which had overtaken many of them, and all too
often of their death from sickness, wounds or on the field of
battle; the agony of waiting for the tardy reports after a
battle; the scanning of the long lists which appeared in the
papers of the casualties after every sanguinary engagement to
see if the name of some loved one was among the killed or
wounded; the being summoned to houses of mourning because of
death in the families of the absent soldiers or sailors, and
their efforts to comfort the members of stricken homes who had
heard of the death of a husband, father or son far away in the
Southland. The memory of the suffering of those left behind and
those who had gone to the front comes back with all of its
overwhelming force.

The western troops who were in the expeditions up the Tennessee
and Cumberland Rivers and subsequently in the siege and capture
of Vicksburg, and later in the Atlanta campaign, were our
friends and neighbors; their grief and misfortunes were ours.
They rendezvoused at Cairo, and I remember vividly the delicate
women who worked as did the brave women of the South, almost
night and day, preparing sanitary stores which could not
otherwise be obtained, and who later flocked to the hospitals
all over the North and South to care for the sick, wounded,
convalescent and emaciated soldiers and sailors who, as the war
progressed, were being constantly sent North to be restored to
health and fitness to return to the service.

It seems only yesterday that I saw dear Mother Bickerdyke
carrying in her strong arms poor, sick and, perhaps dying, boys
in the hospitals at Cairo. It was in the autumn of 1861, after
the battle of Belmont, the first baptism of blood of the
volunteers of the West. She had left her home in Galesburg,
Illinois, and joined the first troops who were mobilized for the
war at Cairo. She was a remarkable woman in many senses, her
frame was that of iron, her nerves as steady as a
sharp-shooter's, her intellect as quick as an electric spark,
her knowledge of human nature phenomenal, her executive ability
wonderful, her endurance limitless. In all emergencies, she knew
what to do, when and how to act. Her heart was full to
over-flowing with patriotism and loving kindness. She had the
keenest possible intuitions, could detect fraud, deception,
disloyalty, dishonesty and hypocrisy quicker than an expert
detective. She was a law unto herself in supporting the cause in
which she was enlisted. Neither the general commanding nor any
subordinate officer in any way interfered with her. A surgeon
whom she had once detected in some questionable conduct appealed
to General Sherman. The sturdy old soldier replied: "My God,
man, Mother Bickerdyke outranks everybody, even Lincoln. If you
have run amuck of her I advise you to get out quickly before she
has you under arrest."

Behind the bluff and unceremonious manner she was all love and
tenderness in her great mother heart. An unworthy employee of
the hospital corps appeared before her one day fully dressed in
the clothing of the Sanitary Commission, of which she was in
charge. She said nothing, but stepped up to him, unbuttoned the
collar, lifted the garments one by one over his head, until he
had nothing but the trousers. She then said: "You can, for
decency's sake, keep them on until you can run to your tent,
take them off, put on your own and send these to me; do you hear
me?" A crowd of soldiers stood near her to protect her. Their
shouts and jeers were punishment enough for the unhappy culprit.
She rarely had occasion to administer rebukes to offenders more
than once, as they soon discovered there was no way of escaping
her vigilance.

At the head of the women nurses she followed General Logan's
command through all the campaigns from Cairo to the grand review
in Washington at the close of the war, and was one of the most
conspicuous figures in that review. She took charge of the
female nurses who from time to time joined her in her
heaven-born work of ministering to the soldiers in camp, in the
hospitals and on the battlefield. She had her hospital tents and
supplies and quartermasters' wagons, which she pushed to the
rear of the lines. She paid no more attention to whistling
bullets or booming cannon than did the gallant commanders and
dauntless army. She nursed thousands and thousands of officers
and men, all of whom have called her blessed.

We have included the biographies of all the patriotic,
self-sacrificing women of whom we could obtain any data. We
regret that it was not possible to include the name of every
woman who laid on the altar of her country her best endeavors
for the relief of the sufferers from the inevitable calamities
of war.

The refugees from the South and the families of the soldiers
added to the burdens and hardships of the women at home more
than to the men, as the majority of the able-bodied men North
and South were either in the Army or the Navy.

The author is glad that she has been able to get the biographies
of a partial list of the splendid women of the South who made
such heroic sacrifices for the soldiers, sailors and
unfortunates of the Confederacy. The imaginary line which
divided the two sections made no difference in the nature,
womanly tenderness and righteous impulses of the women or their
devotion to their loved ones engaged in the defense of a cause
they believed to be right and just. It would be difficult to
find in history parallels of moral courage, self-denial and
self-immolation equal to that displayed by the women North and
South during the long and bloody Civil War in the United States.

The women of the South are entitled to credit for a longer
period of endurance through the unspeakable trials during the
years of reconstruction which followed the treaty of peace at
Appomattox, which event ended in a degree the agonies, anxieties
and labors of the women of the North.

The experiences of the people of both sections brought out at a
fearful cost all the nobler instincts of their natures, and
inspired them to higher purposes in life and more earnest
efforts for the progress of civilization and Christianity. The
few in both sections who have tried to stand in the way of human
betterment and adaptation to the conditions of the world's
advancement have had to suffer the consequences of their
rash-ness and be dropped from the rolls of the promoters of the
nation's welfare.

Union of interests and union of ambitions for the highest
attainments in Christianity, humanity, education, philanthropy
and national pride have borne rich fruit since the abolition of
slavery and the close of the fratricidal war, and will,
doubtless, place the United States in the lead of all Christian
nations of the earth.